Empty Glass Jars
by Ataira
Summary: Sasuke was unimpressed when he met Sai, but when Sai dons the ANBU mask, he shows Sasuke someone else entirely. They will learn how to chase each other, but nothing comes easily and both will pay a price too willingly. Shounen ai, SasuSai
1. Second Encounter

Empty Glass Jars

ATAIRA

- - -

Rating: M, PG-16 Language, violence, lime, shonen-ai

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs solely to its creator and the people who control its name and empire. I make absolutely no profit from Naruto.

Summary: Even as their lives seem to cross more and more, Sasuke and Sai pursue perfection, power and release. But nothing ever comes easily, and both will pay the price too willingly.

AN: I know everyone thought about this, so please excuse me for acting my bad, bad thoughts. Blame Kishimoto-san!

- - - - -

Orochimaru was a little annoyed when he had to move from his top secret, evil, underground lair for the fifth time that month. It seemed as if Sunagakure had some kind of ping on his location, what with their constant scouting of his movements. He sighed and scratched his head. He'd have to remember to tell Kabuto to comb through the riffraff in their current location and kill off possible spies.

"Kabuto," Immediately after he called out, the bespectacled shinobi appeared by his side, "are you prepared for our trip yet?"

Kabuto took out a small notebook and opened to a page full of lists, "I'm only missing about three different snake toxins, but for the most part, I think I'm ready."

"You were on your way to get them just now?"

"Yes, I'm heading to the burrows now."

"Where are you guys going?" Suddenly they were both alerted to the presence of Orochimaru's young charge. The Uchiha boy was balancing on a stalagmite in the shadows. They could make out his reddish eyes whirling slightly, reading Kabuto's small book from far away. Kabuto snapped it closed and put it away.

"We're going apple-picking, Sasuke," Orochimaru suddenly smiled, "I thought you were supposed to be training, finished early?"

"I want to go, too," Sasuke ignored Orochimaru's question. They stared pensively at each other, and Kabuto grumbled and disappeared. He didn't even bother wondering whether or not he'd have to accommodate another person into his carefully thought out plans. Sasuke just had to flash his sharingan eyes and Orochimaru couldn't resist anything his pretty doll asked. Kabuto frowned when the sleepy snake barely lifted its head when he approached it. Nothing in this damn lair had any respect for him.

-----

When they had reached the lookout point, Kabuto quickly took out his calculation tools to see how long the poison could last before it start to lose its sharpness. Orochimaru leaned against a tree and looked down into the valley pass. It was fairly narrow between the hulking forest-covered mountains. Here was where the path wound tightly; where a large caravan would have trouble passing the slender twisting path. Orochimaru nodded to himself.

"I see them," Sasuke suddenly pointed to the turn of the pass where a line of vehicles seemed to be entering the valley, "You haven't yet explained why we're targeting such a weak shinobi."

Kabuto's eyebrow raised, "He's one of kazekage's special committee of advisors, and you have the gall to call him weak?"

Sasuke's eyes suddenly narrowed at the main carriage, which bore the proud Sunagakure insignia. The red sharingan swirled rapidly, piercing into the carriage and examining its passenger before slowing and turning onto Orochimaru, "He's weak." and the unspoken message was clear to the older men. You two were making such a big deal about preparing for this mission, and the target wasn't worth a single kunai throw. Orochimaru smiled in a placating manner.

"We can't just kill him, Sasuke-kun. We need to use the poisons Kabuto prepared from my own test subjects. Completely untraceable-- not even I could tell what killed him. we need to make sure that the people who find Tsuzuki-san have no clue who killed him, or things may get nasty for us again," he explained calmly even though his eyes were flicking back and forth, watching as the long line of lavish vehicles came closer to their lookout spot, "He's heading the investigation that's tailing me and following us all over the place. I'm sure there's some kind of alliance with Konohagakure as well, because his information is very accurate."

Kabuto was already fitting the crystal vials to what looked like some kind of spraying apparatus. He noticed Sasuke's scrutiny and waved the weapon at him, "It ejects the fluid as a gas into his personal carriage. Once inhaled, it takes about 40 seconds to fully paralyze his central nervous system. I'm not quite sure what happens to the physical poison after that, but I hypothesize that it is absorbed into the system--"

"Shh," Orochimaru's pupils suddenly stilled, and his eyes narrowed slightly. The caravan was nearly in front of them, and Orochimaru's hypersensitive hearing could make out the horses' footfalls against the dirt road. Kabuto frowned, they weren't close enough for him to move in and shoot the poison into the carriage, still another 305.9 feet... But before his train of thought even completed, he felt a shudder rush through him.

"Your theory was correct, Kabuto," Orochimaru whispered, "Someone's arrived…oh! He's gone now." Sasuke turned to his mentor, a question in the knit in his eyebrows. Kabuto, on the other hand, understood. No matter how much stronger Sasuke thought he was in comparison to his mentor, Orochimaru was called a legendary sannin for a reason. He could pick out a presence no matter how well cloaked it was. His tongue was now flicking out and tasting the air around them.

"Let's get closer," he said suddenly. In a glimmer of muted chakra, they disappeared to reappear lower on the mountain, closer to the pass. Their presences were instinctively subdued, practically invisible to any of the Suna shinobi. Sasuke noticed that Kabuto had already dismantled the peculiar shooting weapon and put it away.

"They actually sent someone, I can't believe it," Orochimaru was grinning wickedly to himself. Then, in what must have been a blink of an eye, the caravan of traveling Suna vehicles they were watching was thrown into chaos.

Something had attacked from the other side of the valley pass. Immediately Sasuke's eyes flashed red again, whirring and watching the fight break out. But almost as soon as Sasuke could focus on the caravan, the fight was over. The Suna shinobi first attacked didn't even have the time to draw a weapon, and the quick jutsus the later-attacked constructed were completely useless against an attacker going so fast that he was nearly invisible. Sasuke looked around quickly and only saw how the horses bolted, their killed riders still in mid-fall. The attacker was gone, and the only evidence he was there was the warm blood quickly staining desert uniforms. There wasn't any sign of human life in the whole caravan.

Before Orochimaru could stop him (Kabuto didn't even bother), Sasuke took off. His eyes were already miles ahead of him, watching the black-clothed nin maneuver through the dense forested mountains as if they were open meadows. He was quickly gaining on him though, his fingers already itching with flashes of blue. His blood was boiling and he had to admit that he was intrigued.

Being locked inside lairs was getting boring and his boredom was his reason for muscling his way into Orochimaru and Kabuto's mission. He had hoped to experience some action in the beginning, felt a bit down when he heard of Kabuto's lame poison plan, and now he discovered someone who just took out an entire Suna caravan in less than 30 seconds. Sasuke shivered with excitement; he had found an attacker almost as good as himself.

Suddenly, he dodged his head, already seeing and anticipating the attack. It was probing, a mere shuriken. But the sword following was not a question; it was meant to kill. Sasuke dodged rapid attacks, each one followed swiftly, cleanly. The attacker was so fast the only time he could break his intense concentration was when the attacker fell back to attempt an escape. Sasuke also jumped back to another tree branch and caught a glimpse of the other's face as he turned to escape.

A white mask with red swirls, black ties anchoring it behind the head.

Sasuke smirked. Just as he first suspected-- a Konohagakure ANBU. But Sasuke also had a weird feeling that he was familiar with the ANBU, but the ANBU shinobi's chakra signature, his presence and aura, were completely restrained. Sasuke tried to pinpoint why the ANBU seemed so familiar to him while he chased him through the forest. He decided he'd just have to follow him and force him to fight and reveal his identity. The mask would be a nice souvenir for his troubles and he was sure it would look nice in his sparse room.

The ANBU nin dodged quite a few of his jutsus easily, and finally stopped when he'd reached a clearing where the trees were not quite as dense. Sasuke, always right on his tail, threw a fistful of chidori to distract him and then attacked rapidly in a fluid sequence of hand to hand attacks, each one boosted with a deadly chakra that forced a defensive chakra-supported response. But each reaction he got was extremely controlled, as the ANBU had to make sure his identity remained completely concealed. But with each burst of defensive chakra, Sasuke could feel the recognition growing, and finally--

Sasuke broke through a suddenly weak defense, his chakra-sharpened hands cutting through cloth, metal-plating, flak and skin--

Shit...Sasuke withdrew his hands from an extremely well made copy. The copy burst into a little faceless doll that fell to the forest floor. It had replaced the ANBU at the last moment, which explained the fall of his defense. He should have seen that, but he was distracted by that growing desire to uncover the Konoha nin's identity. Sasuke mentally berated himself as he continued jumping from tree to tree, shadowing the ANBU. They were going at breakneck speeds now, causing the branches they jumped on to explode from the violent pulses of chakra that propelled them faster and faster.

A clear smile was on Sasuke's face now. This ANBU was good, and it annoyed him slightly that some mere underling of Konoha could keep him running this fast for this long. Sasuke could feel his pulse racing, blood rising and anticipating the kill. It would be a pleasure to destroy this slippery ANBU. He stopped abruptly on a sturdy tree branch, and spread his feet far apart for leverage. He hadn't quite perfected this technique that he could execute it while in motion. Without wasting another second, he broke the thumb on his left hand.

Sasuke quickly twisted his hands in a blur of seals and felt the chakra coursing wildly through his body. The chakra that burst forth actually pushed back on his arms and shoved him back angrily, whining and screaming in fury. Searing heat forced him to close his eyes, his hair blown away from his face, and the smell of pure destruction quickly overcame him. Everything in its path was immediately vaporized and everything further away from the initial wave blew up in a flash of chakra-fueled fire

Sasuke detested having to resort to such a powerful fire-jutsu just to stop the ANBU shinobi. He really had been hoping for a hand-to-hand combat and the opportunity to test his reflexes on another ninja.

But the fire-jutsu had done as he intended. When the blast finally stilled, it had completely seared the entire face of the mountain, leaving a charred wasteland littered with blackened stumps and (what?!) a Konohagakure ninja crouched close to the ground. In a whirl of blackened char and splinters, Sasuke stood before the crouched ninja.

The white mask was still amazingly intact, but the ties were completely burned-- the only thing holding the mask up to the ANBU's face was a trembling hand. The other hand was held out in front of him, and traces of the defensive barrier jutsu were still crackling around his fingers. But Sasuke was glad to see that most of the shinobi's gloves and sleeves were burned off, even if the skin wasn't.

Shit! Sasuke's frown deepened, not a drop of blood yet! He stepped closer to shinobi kneeled before him, watching for any surprise attacks and also watching just in case he had anymore dolls to replace himself with.

"Who are you?" Sasuke looked over the slender body, masculine shoulders and pale forearms. The shinobi just crouched there, his chest heaving, probably from powering a jutsu strong enough to guard him from the fierce fire blast. Kabuto generally complained whenever Sasuke used that particular jutsu on him during the training spars.

Sasuke was about to strike out again, this time with the long zai he had kept on his belt, but he could see the trickle of chakra suddenly burst from the ANBU shinobi. This time, Sasuke didn't fall back and let the other run, and he pressed on, the zai already aimed at a huge open spot on the ANBU's chest.

But the escape-jutsu was faster than he expected, and it was far more complex than any escape-jutsu he'd ever witnessed. The zai cut into the others' personal space, chakra-sharpened blade slicing into the metal guard on the others' chest, and suddenly Sasuke's zai lost its tension. The tip fell slightly and struck air.

The shinobi escaped. Sasuke stared at the empty space, where none of the air had even been displaced in the sudden escape. He immediately tried to find the ANBU shinobi again, his eyes scanning the mountainsides rapidly, piercing through the dense forest. Nothing. It was like as if he'd completely disappeared from this side of the mountain ridge, possibly into the desert on the other side.

"Aaahhh give it up," Kabuto landed behind Sasuke, shouldering his bag with an annoyed expression on his face, "he's probably already outside the Konoha gates by now."

"What?" Sasuke snapped, "How could he be there?" They were at least three countries away from Konoha. But Kabuto merely took off his glasses to wipe them with the edge of his shirt.

"The jutsu he used," he breathed on a lens, peering into it, "it's one of those quasi-forbidden types, something about the amount of power it draws from one's life force in order to execute such a rapid withdrawal from this current timeframe. Only certain level jounin are allowed to use them, and that includes anyone on an ANBU rank mission. Although I'm surprised he didn't try to kill you instead of going through such lengths to escape."

"Of course he wouldn't try to kill Sasuke-kun." Orochimaru had slunk up behind both of his favorite underlings, "Didn't you hear him last time he paid a visit, Kabuto?" he was picking up the ashes from the burnt ground and throwing them in the still air, "Some heartfelt nonsense about 'protecting Sasuke's bonds.' He was very sincere; I could almost taste the emotion in the air. Sasuke-kun, look at the state of this forest! You still need to learn control."

But Sasuke wasn't listening. In fact, there was a dull buzzing in his head that sparked when he recalled that pale smiling face. It was that boy who was so insignificant that Sasuke had totally ignored his presence in the entire underground cave. He couldn't believe it, that mere shinobi had eluded him for so long?! "Was that...that feminine weakling from the old base? The one with Team 7?"

"Yeah," Orochimaru frowned at Sasuke, staring at his ward quizzically before shrugging, "I always forget people can't identify others by the smell of their body."

"He was weak when I first met him!" Sasuke turned to Orochimaru with a furious expression on his face, "Why the hell was he so fast today? Didn't I quell him with one look last time?" there was a sparkle of chakra touching his fingertips and his eyes were angry red slits. His mentor looked unimpressed.

"You met him when he was on an espionage-type mission where the objective was to assimilate and then assassinate. Of course he had to be as harmless as possible around us." Orochimaru explained, "Today was different. If he was wearing an ANBU mask then that means he had no restraints. You got to see him with no fetters today, and he's a surprisingly good match, isn't he, Sasuke-kun?" Kabuto groaned…that wasn't going to go well with the boy and his inferiority issues.

Sasuke felt like as if someone had taken a jackhammer to his first five spinal nerves. The anger was translating to pain in his body-- self loathing and shock coursed through him, "That bastard was a fucking worm a month ago!" and a month later he was able to erect a barrier strong enough to guard himself from a full frontal fire-blast jutsu?! "What happened?!"

"He was hiding his power from you, get over it." Kabuto finally snapped, annoyed with the continual Uchiha angst, "Now let's go. I have to write a blackmail letter to Tsunade-sama AND start packing so we can move to the next base--" Orochimaru sighed, he hated all of this moving, "--because you failed to kill your replacement buddy, and now he's going to tell his superiors that he's sighted us. It'll take three hours to get going, so I don't want to dally--"

A quick glare after catching Kabuto's eye was all it took to shut up the grey-haired man and make him stumble back a few feet, seeing a death that involved many different shaped suitcases. Sasuke stalked away, his angry prowl disturbing the ashes swirling in the cooling air.

"So..." Orochimaru said to Kabuto, who was shaking his head and wiping the sudden sweat from his forehead, "Not only does he have Naruto-kun to compare himself to, but now this girly man. Ah, Kabuto, what was his name again?"

"Sai," Kabuto coughed, "At least that was his name for that mission."

Orochimaru sighed unhappily as he performed a few hand seals, "I hate it when they change their names all the time, just like changing lairs every week. You finally get used to one when..." he slowly disappeared from sight, "...you have to leave it behind."

-----

Tsunade had the decency to pull her robe closed before she admitted the ANBU shinobi standing outside her door. It came in quietly, and (even though, for some reason, it was holding its mask to its face with one hand) stood before her in a firm stance that belied no injury. She nodded to it and opened her desk drawer to take out its file. She opened the file on her desk and uncapped a pen.

"Mission accomplished." the ANBU shinobi said automatically. Tsunade checked a box on the top paper, "Unharmed." another box was checked, although she glanced upwards at the shinobi while marking the paper. She wasn't even going to ask it the obvious question; there was no way its chakra flow was that messed up from a simple assassination mission. Plus, it could read the question Tsunade's eyes and body language, "Unsuccessful escape, met with resistance not involved with what was indicated in mission parameters."

"Elaborate."

"Was pursued by missing-nin Uchiha Sasuke. He was accompanied, though not at the time of pursuit, with missing-nins Yakushi Kabuto and Orochimaru."

Tsunade's interest was increased tenfold, "But you did not kill them, even though they were possible witnesses?"

"It was not in the mission parameters."

This was one thing that irked her about this ANBU shinobi in particular. It followed its mission instructions faultlessly. It could have gained some kind of information from a fight with Sasuke, although, after brief consideration, it could have also died if Kabuto and Oro decided to join Sasuke. Tsunade jotted a few lines on the mission assignment paper. If she knew Orochimaru had already targeted Tsuzuki, she and kazekage wouldn't have had to risk this messy plan. So much for being two steps ahead…

She interrogated the shinobi briefly on where exactly it had met the resistance, how long the chase and skirmish had taken, and the level of threat the shinobi had encountered from the resistance. After a few more questions she needed for more boring official reasons, Tsunade closed the file and put it back into the drawer.

"Mission end." she said. Immediately the ANBU shinobi lowered its mask and put it away inside its chest armor. Tsunade inspected the smiling face and snapped her fingers and pointed to the chair across her desk.

"Sit. You look like crap," she said before leaning forward, "Tell me, what did he do? Your gloves are gone and you look like--"

Sai's smile disappeared, a sign of how tired he was, "-crap. Yes, you said. He's mastered some kind of fire-blast technique. You should go with some jounin and inspect it yourself. I'll go with you if you require my assistance."

"We heard news of the blast from a band of nomadic desert families that felt some of the outer shocks. How many salas has the bastard pumped into it?"

Sai looked pensive for a moment, staring at the dark blinds, "I'd say...400 salas. Maybe 500, but I wasn't really able to gauge it properly, considering I was being hit almost head-on."

"400!"

Sai nodded, still smiling, "Strangely enough, there wasn't a mushroom cloud..." at that point Tsunade wasn't listening. She quickly shot him out of her office into the direction of the hospital, a little annoyed that he wasn't dead after being attacked with 400 salas of chakra. She huffed angrily, another testament that there was no power greater than youth, like it or not. Well, at least he was limping a little! She grinned to herself as she fiddled with the ties that hung near her waist. The children of the village never ceased to amaze her, ANBU prodigies or not. Really, she was starting to feel as if her body was starting to fail her faster than she expected.

Tsunade stared pensively at the dark curtains, her sigh covered by the rustling sound her robe made as she dropped it on her desk. At least there were some things that her body could still do in its old age.

"Shizune," she called out into thin air. Immediately the shinobi appeared beside her, a wicked smile forming on the small face.

-----

He never understood the unfailing ability for his team mates to show up on time. One would think that after the first two times Kakashi-sensei showed up excessively late, they would use that extra hour and a half to do something else more productive than stand around.

But Sai nevertheless joined his team mates early that morning. Naruto ignored his presence completely and Sakura immediately greeted him with ill-concealed excitement.

"Good morning!"

"Good morning," Sai responded, "Why is your expression so animated today?"

"You haven't heard yet because you were doing your special training," Sakura said, "But news is that three days ago Tsuzuki-san of Sunagakure, one of Konoha's biggest allies in the search for Akatsuki and Orochimaru, was assassinated on the way here!"

"No way!" Sai gasped. Perfect intake of breath, eyebrows shot up nicely.

"Yeah, everyone is shocked! A lot of people suspected that it was inside politics-- that Gaara had assigned the mission to someone within their force, but every single Suna nin was accounted for. So the conspiracy theorists had nothing to go on."

"Why would anyone suspect Gaara?" Sai sat next to Naruto, who was faking sleep against a tree. Sakura crouched before them.

"Well, Tsuzuki was supposed to be one of Gaara's biggest opponents in his committee, and he had special backing from a lot of lords, something that Gaara could never gain. But because there's no evidence of foul play, people were pointing at someone else."

"Who?"

"Konoha, of course. Tsunade still supports Gaara even if the lords of Fire Country don't. It was a speculation that she had cut a secret deal with the kazekage. But when the elders started to call for a trial, the coroner's report came through."

"All this speculation before a report was heard?"

"Of course. It ends up," Sakura was nearly vibrating with excitement, "Tsuzuki-san and his bodyguards were all killed by the same technique only identified with one person!"

Sai's eyes widened perfectly, a facial expression he knew was right for this situation, "Whose technique?"

"Sasuke's!"

"IT'S ALL BULLSHIT!" Naruto, who had obviously been listening all along, suddenly stood and yelled loudly, "Sasuke doesn't care a rat's ass about politics! People just like blaming things on him because he's a missing-nin! Well I'm going to bring him back and clear this mess up! It's so annoying when someone's accused for something they didn't do!"

"Sakura-chan," Sai smiled suddenly, "Naruto sounds really homo when he says these things, doesn't he? Haven't you noticed this?"

"AGH! BASTARD!!"

Before either of them could start a fight, a voice floated upon them from the treetops, "Sakura-chan, you missed the most important part of all." Kakashi dropped lightly in front of the rest of Team 7, "Tsunade-sama has given us a green light to carry out an investigation to find Sasuke."

"I was going to say that," Sakura grumbled, "Before the dobe totally interrupted." But Naruto didn't even hear her, already filled with renewed fighting spirit when reminded of Tsunade's promise to them. He was already lost in an internal monologue filled with valiant promises and painful memories.

"So, Sai-kun," Kakashi suddenly leaned into Sai's territory, "Do you think you might know something that we don't?"

"Whaaat?!" Naruto suddenly snapped out of his reverie and looked furious, "Does this Root guy know something that we don't?! What the hell, tell us whatever you heard, you bastard!"

Sakura stepped forwards as well, "Kakashi-sensei, I don't understand…why would you say that?" But Kakashi waited patiently, his visible eye in a smiling arch even though he was dangerously in another jounin's personal space. Sai could feel the pressure of Naruto's threatening aura and Sakura's slightly suspicious stare.

But the white mask with red swirls was not attached to his face anymore. That person was not the one being questioned now.

"Why Kakashi-sensei, I wouldn't know anything you don't already know."

Kakashi understood just as well as any other ANBU shinobi that what happened while one wore the mask stayed strictly with that mask-wearer. The shinobi who took it off was a completely different person altogether. Kakashi looked back and watched as Sakura and Naruto tried to make a protesting Sai carry their knapsacks for them. But Kakashi had been hoping that something…something would have made Sai relent some information.

Sai smiled as he threatened to drop the knapsacks into the deep ravine. It was a perfect smile, one full of equal amounts of humor and threat.

Kakashi turned back and scratched his head. He was getting old, so full of wishful thinking.

_To Be Continued…_


	2. Play Nice

Empty Glass Jars

ATAIRA

- - -

Rating: R-17; Language, violence, blatant yaoi and…er…shota? NOT FOR THE KIDDIES

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs solely to its creator and the people who control its name and empire. I make absolutely no profit from Naruto.

Summary: Even as their lives seem to cross more and more, Sasuke and Sai pursue perfection, power and release. But nothing ever comes easily, and both will pay the price too willingly.

AN: Wow! Thanks for the reviews, guys! I wasn't quite expecting any, seeing as I'm just riding the fanservice wave hahaha This chapter may be disturbing to some so I ask those easily disturbed to step away from any of my writing. I'm being completely serious about the offensive nature of this chapter.

- - - - -

At first Sasuke had not thought to spare a second glance to the slight figure Orochimaru and Kabuto brought back to the cave. He was young with a red braid dangling down his back, had wide and fretful eyes, and altogether sported a most pitiful look of fear. Sasuke should have turned away, not even wasted another moment on that weak boy, but he remembered how he once misjudged a certain shinobi as well. A misjudgment that ate away at his pride whenever he thought of it.

He glared angrily with sharingan at the shinobi who stood across from him in the laboratory, and the boy doubled over, fell down, and started to scream in fear.

"Play nice, Sasuke-kun," Kabuto said dryly from the other side of the lab, not even bothering to see what happened. Sasuke felt relieved-- this boy actually was as weak as he looked; no need to be paranoid about this one. He scowled at the boy who was still writing. Damn that ANBU nin, making him cautious around others again.

Kabuto looked sideways at Sasuke, who looked suddenly very annoyed. This was the first sign of Sasuke starting to act more carefully around others. The first sign that the Sai boy had threatened him and worried the powerful young man. Kabuto smirked at the test tubes he was handling; it was about time the kid realized he was not as powerful as he thought.

- - - - -

The mission that Team 7 had been sent on by special leave of the hokage had led them to the neutral land between fire and wind. They were indeed granted access to investigate the scene of the assassination and the huge crater that Sasuke created- but as soon as they got there, Kakashi got a message from one of his dogs.  
Pak-kun appeared, bearing a letter that was stamped with the hokage's seal. Kakashi took it and broke open the seal.

"7-513 (special) terminated. Eyes open, smog tremors detected in area. Send for brother before 5. 7-514 (A) initiated."

Kakashi allowed the three gofers a chance to read the message and try to decipher it, "So, here's your first time reading one of these, anyone know how to?"

"It looks like a bunch of gibberish," Naruto concluded, "What's baa-san talking about?"

Sakura spared Naruto a pitying glance, and looked carefully at the paper, "She's switched missions on us. The current one we're on, 7-513 it looks like, is terminated. 'Eyes open' is code for investigate, but I don't know what 'smog tremors' is. Probably code for something."

"Akatsuki's making moves and the news has traveled." Sai said quietly. Kakashi nodded.

"Anything else, Sakura-chan?" he asked, "Before Sai reveals the rest?"

"Uhm, no. this is the first time I've ever read a coded message."

Sai took the message, "The rest is short. If you need back up, send a call for it before 5 o'clock, otherwise she's going to assign the standby team to another mission," he ignited a flame in the palm of his hand and the letter burst into a ball of flames.

"What the hell!" Naruto yelled suddenly, "She said we could look for Sasuke! How can she just change missions on us like this? I don't think we should change missions at all! Let her send that standby team to chase after the damn Akatsuki!"

Kakashi shook his head, "We're closer, sending a different team would give Akatsuki time to move somewhere else. And anyways, as soon as the message is destroyed, the seal that's placed on the message sends an 'accepted' signal back to Tsunade. So let's get going and see if we can find the Akatsuki members before 5."

"No!" Naruto slashed his arm out aggressively, "Like hell we are! We're looking for Sasuke like she promised! How come everyone's trying to stop me?!"

"Naruto-baka," Sai suddenly grasped Naruto's arm and ignored the painful waves of chakra that pulsed through their touch, "No one's going to stop you. You'll find him eventually, just not today."

Naruto looked sharply at him, "How the hell do you know?"

Sai looked surprised, "Obviously because you're in love with him. And your sexual frustration is going to lead to him, right?"

Kakashi had to intervene when the fight escalated to annoying levels. His two male gofers broke apart with only minimal injury.

"Sai, don't say these kinds of things, will you?" Kakashi sighed, "Naruto's still in denial."

"Aaagh!" Kakashi easily dodged the punch and pushed Naruto down while he was still moving with furious momentum.

"Now let's get going."

And that was how their search for Sasuke was postponed.

- - - - -

Orochimaru knew that Sasuke's frustration at being beaten by another young man had been building for the past week, but he never knew that it had grown to such an alarming level. He was randomly killing off experiments that Orochimaru specifically said to test out, causing a build up of bodies that was overall unnecessary He was overdoing justus during practice, as if he testing the extent of his power; and pissing off Kabuto whenever he decided to test the jutsus on the teacher and his faithful medic-nin. The foundations of their underground lair were not too happy about the damages either, and every time Sasuke went off the deep end Orochimaru remembered the anger the first hokage felt when Orochimaru had summoned him from the dead. Then he'd rethink his experiments that manipulated the first hokage's genes. These underground caves ran pretty deep...

But this was going just a bit too far. Orochimaru glared at his young charge, which was currently standing in the doorway, arms crossed before his chest. Orochimaru sat up and immediately the boy gyrating above his hips clung to his shoulders, still moving jerkily.

"Sasuke-kun," Orochimaru said evenly, "As exciting as a threesome may be, this one's a virgin, and you know how much I like to enjoy them by myself."

Sasuke's eyes flitted over the boy who was moving up and down with an expression of extreme pleasure. It was the red-haired boy from earlier that week. Sasuke didn't spare a second glance.

"You said you'd teach me something new this morning. It's already past noon."

Orochimaru languidly pumped the boy, "I'm a bit busier than I thought, Sasuke-kun. I didn't think I'd left so many test subjects in this hideout. They've missed me, you see."

"This one's the new one."

"He was 17th in line, I promise I've been going through them as quickly as possible," Orochimaru's smile was strained, "Now why don't you go and play with Kabuto-kun?" the boy's rapid movement stopped as he suddenly arched into Orochimaru's chest and screamed. Pale fluid erupted between the experiment and the scientist.

"It's past noon. Don't you think you've had enough? It's my turn to train."

Orochimaru laughed as he placed the sated boy back into his cage, "Sorry Sasuke-kun, but number 18 is, quite literally mind you, dying with need, so you'll have to wait in line." He snapped a different lock open and its prisoner hurtled out.

Sasuke watched as the boy immediately began thrusting against Orochimaru, his eyes crazed and wild. Orochimaru lifted him and penetrated him swiftly with no preparation, holding him against the cage and thrusting in deeply. The boy's relieved groan irritated Sasuke, but the other prisoners watching number 18 and Orochimaru pressed tighter against the bars that held them in. Sasuke was sure these experiments had some kind of effect that made them this sexual...this base was known for the perverted use of lab subjects. Honestly...who would willingly lust after someone like the snake sannin? Sasuke frowned with disgust.

"Tight..." Orochimaru whispered before clearing his throat and looking back at the unintentional voyeur, "I'll come later...or sooner, depending," he smirked at the young boy who locked his legs around his waist, "So just practice something in the meanwhile."

Sasuke scowled darkly and strode out of the dark cage-chamber. Orochimaru watched the retreating figure, but decided not to pay him anymore attention. He clenched the boy's thighs tighter and continued to rock into the gasping boy. He would worry about his pretty Uchiha doll later.

The next day, Orochimaru was taken over when trying to transfer to the younger Uchiha.

"So," Kabuto said while Sasuke walked towards, "You'll spare random large groups of ninjas you don't know, but you'll destroy the man who trained you this far?"

Sasuke ignored him and continued to walk away. Orochimaru had become weaker than himself: now he was a thing of the past. It was time to prepare a new cache of weapons.

Kabuto watched the young man walk away. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Okay, so he -was- as powerful as he thought. This was going to make things very interesting...Uchiha Itachi had better watch out for his otouto-chan.

- - - - -

"So Naruto-kun," Sai whispered, "The older one doesn't appeal to you as much as the younger one?" when Naruto attempted to punch him out, Sai evaded and made subduing gestures, "If you start anything now, you'll alert them to our position. Quiet down and you can try to beat me later." the blond boy growled threateningly but relented, understanding Sai's logic.

"I fucking hate this," Naruto pushed a few leaves aside from their lookout tree, "Akatsuki is probably checking out the blast scene too. I mean, we saw it, it looks pretty damn frightening. We should have stayed there and waited for them to come to us."

"You're not a very good ninja if you follow simple mission instructions." Sai said pleasantly, "Stop trying to get put on probation for insubordination."

Naruto was quiet for a few minutes before turning to Sai, their faces hidden by leaves, "A good ninja follows his intuition just as much as his instructions. Following your emotions is just as important as doing what you're told. But you wouldn't know that, not with your head stuck in someone else's ass."

Sai smiled at Naruto, "Again with the homoerotic language. Do us all a favor, Naruto-kun; hire a man for a night and get it all out of your system. I promise you'll feel much better once it's over."

"Will you two shut up and concentrate on the mission?!" Sakura's irritated voice came over their earpieces. Naruto unclenched his grip around Sai's neck and suddenly perked up, looking through the leaves. He had sensed something.

"Yeah," Sai quelled a cough, "They're here."

There was a blur as two figures in black moved past them. But Naruto and Sai could properly identify them. It was Uchiha and his pet fish.

"Target sighted," Sai whispered into his earpiece as he and Naruto stealthily moved through the forest, "…and identified. Missing-nins Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigake Kisame." They ghosted carefully through the thick tree tops, favoring quiet over speed.

"Copy," Kakashi responded, "Keep a long tail or they'll smell you out. Naruto, hang back a little. Let Sai do the close-shadowing." Naruto immediately fell back and allowed Sai to speed ahead.

Sai pulled out a jar of ink from his pocket and splashed it on the forest ground as he whizzed overhead. The ink moved as swiftly as he did, blending with his shadow. He would need it later in the very likely event that he met up with the Akatsuki duo.

This was the problem with Tsunade. She was more mathematically inclined, so her writing skills sucked. She never specified exactly what he was supposed to do when he found them. Eyes open, and then what? How hard was it to write in code anyways?

Before he knew what was happening, his body twisted backwards and his hand was already throwing shuriken out. Uchiha had materialized in front of him, and his ugly sharingan had loomed right before him. Sai felt his body hit the forest ground, but the pain was dull in comparison to the psychological pain that also coursed through his nerves. He could practically feel the agony as his mind was being pulled apart and analyzed brutally. There was no finesse to the jutsu, only the pull and tear of his mind trying to fight the intrusion.

Then suddenly he was aware of something else. When he opened his eyes, there was a red sky above him, and his arms and legs being chewed by inky beasts. Sai blinked and stared. They were large, much like the beasts he painted and released, and long rows of teeth were gnashing violently into his body. There were too many, but at the same time the pain was like one screaming blaze of agony.

Above him, a red moon burned, unaffected, indifferent. The dark red sky seemed to leech all color from the rest of the illusionary world. Sai closed his eyes.

With much more effort than he used to counter the other Uchiha's fire-blast, Sai heaved at the psychological illusion. He ignored the raging beasts and attacked the illusion with all of his psychological effort. But no matter how hard he tried, the illusion never gave any sign that it was relenting. The beasts continued to claw into his bloody body.

Suddenly, Uchiha appeared inside the illusion, standing behind the beasts that were ripping his abdomen open. Uchiha watched a slight frown in his brow.

"You're not afraid."

Sai was gasping for breath, "It's not real," although the pain begged to differ, "And...I'm not Sasuke. I don't care if you kill me."

Uchiha stepped closer to Sai, who could feel his vocal cords being ripped out of his body, "Was it really he who created that blast? Not a jinchuuriki or the sannin?"

"Yes."

"Why didn't he kill you, too?"

Well damn, Uchiha knew he was the ANBU who targeted the Suna official, "Because he c-couldn't catch me." he gasped as his liver was chewed through. It looked gross; dark flesh flying and spurting blood.

Uchiha stepped away as an artery suddenly gushed blood when it was punctured, "You aren't special to him?"

Sai tried to roll away, tears streamed from his eyes. It seemed like as if body parts were growing back just so there was something left to maim, "Would...would that bother you?" "If you are special to him, I will kill you." death threats must have been a normal thing to Uchiha. He could say something like that so easily now, so cold like the burning moon.

Sasuke was going to have a field day when he heard about this, "You and Naruto...are so..." Sai tried to cough but his face was bitten, and his facial bones made interesting cracking noises as they were chewed through. His voice still came out, slightly wry, "...isn't...isn't incest _gross_?"

Itachi frowned, and suddenly the beasts were growling, their jaws even stronger as they shredded mercilessly into him. Sai gave in and screamed, the voice coming unnaturally from his broken body. His body writhed, giving in to the pain.

"Itachi," there came a foreign voice, "Sasuke doesn't give a rat's ass about Sai. He's not going to care one bit if you kill him. I doubt he even knows Sai's name."

It was Kakashi, somehow penetrating the illusion. He was suddenly standing beside Itachi, hands deep in his pockets, a picture of nonchalance. But Sai could see (suddenly with his eyes back), that Kakashi's left eye was completely visible, red and swirling hotly.

Itachi stared pensively at the boy he mutilated. Then both sharingan users disappeared. Sai gasped in pain and tried to move away from the onslaught of pain. But he quickly realized something that made him let out a long scream. Itachi was gone...but he was still captured in the illusion. He wasn't going to be released. The inky beasts closed back in on him.

- - - - -

Sasuke looked sideways at his traveling companions. Suigetsu was bickering heatedly with Karin. Juugo was contemplating something under his breath. They were getting closer and closer to his brother, and the tension was starting to spark the weirder quirks of Orochimaru's children. Just the other day Suigetsu jumped into an oasis lake and came out with tentacles out of his back. Needless to say, Karin's laughing sparked another fight that Sasuke didn't even have the energy to intervene in.

And this again. Sasuke felt something prickle on his wide scope of the land. Someone had just entered his subconscious boundary. And it was an extremely familiar presence.

"Hey," Sasuke sighed, stopping suddenly, "They're coming."

Suigetsu and Karin broke their fight for a moment, looked off into the distance, and then started fighting again.

"Do you think you can handle this?" the monster nodded, but already his eyes were starting to look wild.

"What's wrong? You can't control yourself?"

Juugo shook his head quickly, "I just...have a question..." Sasuke watched as the four people's chakra auras got much closer, "S-Sasuke...is it female or male?"

Sasuke bit back a sigh, "Juugo...I don't want you to kill any of them. So try to control yourself. I'm here." the boy nodded furiously.

"Mm..." Suigetsu grinned, "it's your fan club again, Sasuke. They smell so richly of the forest. Even the desert can't dry out that scent of rain."

In a matter of four minutes, Sasuke was being gawked at by his former team mates. His former sensei looked bored (but Sasuke could see he was very much on the edge) and the ANBU who got away was standing by Kakashi, his face totally blank.

"Awh shit," Suigetsu ruffled his hair, "Can we skip the ogling and jump right away to the yellin' and screaming?" Naruto shot him an acidic glare.

"You shut the hell up--"

"Or how about," Karin interrupted, "We skip the yelling too, and jump to the part where we beat you up? I call the pink one."

"Oy, oy," Kakashi made placating gestures, "We're not here to get beat up!" But as soon as he said it, he dodged a fast blow from Suigetsu, who had obviously been itching to physically fight someone for the past few days. Sasuke frowned. Suigetsu was starting to get annoying. But if getting the crap beaten out of him by Kakashi would calm him down, then he'd let the boy battle it out.

Karin took Suigetsu's attack as a sign and also pressed forward, a blade already out in her hand. In what could only be called the most repetitively useless move, Naruto activated his kage bunshin, which caused mass confusion.

Juugo, (apparently the lucky sex was male today) snapped, striking out and obliterating the closest Narutos near him. But Sasuke quickly held him back.

"No, Juugo," Sasuke pointed at Sai, who was helping Sakura out, "That one."

Juugo stared, absentmindedly striking out against a few more bunshins, "But is that a girl...or boy?"

Sai turned at that comment, and suddenly grinned at Juugo, "That's pretty much what I thought about Sasuke too! I suspected the open robe was just to reassure everyone he didn't have boobs!" Juugo stared at Sai, but then also grinned a little.

Sasuke held Juugo back, "Never mind, Juugo. You go after the blond ones."

It wasn't until after the first blows that Sasuke realized that Sai was avoiding his eyes totally. He was still watching Sasuke's every movement, carefully retaliating and blocking when necessary, but he avoided Sasuke's eyes completely. Sasuke frowned and pressed forward, wondering if Kakashi had already warned him about the Sharingan's power.

He also noticed something else. For some reason, just as he did almost every time they met, he was toying with Sai. He was moving slower than usual, moving carefully with more restraint than he usually used. For some reason he was fighting almost languidly, not like his usual ferocity.

Sai apparently seemed to notice, because there was always that infuriating smile on his face, his sparring as impeccable as a machine. He even bothered with the useless ink business. But when Sasuke suddenly appeared right in his face, Sai was suddenly a distance away, his smile slightly strained because of the sword that had sliced cleanly through his abdominal wall.

"What's wrong, Sasuke?" the androgynous guy said pleasantly, "Feeling sluggish today?" Sasuke scowled internally...big words for a guy whose intestines had been an inch from being sliced up. He pushed on, the dangerous sword glittering, but not striking in vital spots. Sasuke knew before he began the fight that given different circumstances, he'd be able to kill this nin faster than it took for him to draw his sword.

But it wasn't the right person. This leaf jounin had no intention of killing him...and he was an entirely different fighter because of it. Sasuke quickly disabled him, a fast series of punches in vital areas, leaving him to lie harmlessly in the dirt.

A quick gesture from Sasuke and suddenly the fighting stopped. Suigetsu had suddenly poured out of Kakashi's unyielding grip; Karin didn't bother retaliating Sakura's fierce blows, and even Juugo stood to attention.

"No!" Naruto yelled, spun on his foot, held his hands out as if to catch Sasuke.

The group of four scattered.

- - - - -


	3. The Paper Bureaucracy

Empty Glass Jars

ATAIRA

- - -

Rating: M, PG-16 Language, violence, shonen-ai/slash. This individual chapter is pretty safe, though.

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs solely to its creator and the people who control its name and empire. I make absolutely no profit from Naruto.

Summary: Even as their lives seem to cross more and more, Sasuke and Sai pursue perfection, power and release. But nothing ever comes easily, and both will pay the price too willingly.

AN: I took a really long to update this, didn't I? I'm really sorry everyone! I promise this isn't a dead end project. Also, there's not too much Sasuke in this chapter, so an apology to Sasuke fans. Loves and kisses to readers and reviewers-- you guys are the ones powering this story.

- - - - -

Kakashi chewed on the pen, an expression of complete attentiveness on his face as he watched his team. They were arguing about the specific time team 6 had gotten attacked and when Sakura abandoned team 7 to go and alert 2 that similar treatment awaited. Although this was all very interesting, Kakashi was in no way paying attention. He was supposed to be concentrating on what they were saying and writing down whatever he approved onto their mission summary, but his mind was working harder on something else. He was planning out every last move to take to get out of Naruto's dingy apartment and as far away from the three twerps as possible. Maybe he could appoint a passing jounin as assistance to the arguing twerps, but it wasn't like as if they would even notice if his left-

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura barked, "Maybe we could finish faster if you helped out instead of spacing out!" Sai and Naruto, who had been arguing heatedly, suddenly shut their mouths and stared with surprise at the kunoichi. Sakura looked at Kakashi, whose eyebrow arched dramatically, and the normally respectful girl blushed.

"Uhm, ah, excuse me, I didn't mean to…er...I'm very terribly sorry, Kakashi-san!" she blurted and bowed in his direction. Kakashi smiled, but the smile was deceitful. Rather, he was pleased that Sakura gave him a weakness of hers to exploit-- guilt. Now he could use her shame and speed the mission summary writing up a bit.

"Now now Sakura-chan, why don't you, instead, let me write this mission summary the way I always do? I promise the good guys in the good office will accept it, and we can get on our merry way! Now," he reached over and snatched the summary sheet from Sakura, who had been waving it in Naruto's bandaged face, "Teeaammm seven...leddd..." he wrote the characters with irritated strokes, "...connnnflict with...aaakaatsuuukiii..." he scratched out an extra character, "...Uchichaaa Sasuukeee arressted...aaand...end of mission. Tada!" he folded the paper in three quick swipes and thrust it into his vest, hoping that was the end of that. But as he tried to climb out of the window, Sakura jumped up and grabbed the back of his vest.

"Kakashiii-senseeeii!" she growled ferociously. Kakashi looked to the other young men on the team for some support, but Naruto had wormed off somewhere in search of a cup of instant msg overdose, and Sai seemed to be looking through Naruto's bookshelf for something interesting to read. Big help. Kakashi sighed and resigned to giving his whole sunny Saturday away to summarizing the mission from hell.

"Sai-kun!" Sakura said shrilly after she had Kakashi sit back down and give her the official sheet, "Can you please help us out?"

"With what?" the boy limped over to the small table and sat down. Sakura gestured to the paper that Kakashi had scribbled four meager sentences in the huge space meant for the summary. Sai read them, "Well, that really summarizes the mission. If anyone wanted to know the initiative they can look on earlier mission-assignment forms and if they wanted to know the outcome they can read this one. What happens in between is not that import--"

"It IS important! And we're not arguing about it again! This is the most climactic mission we've had ever since Team 7's returned to action, and we are NOT going to throw the summary away! It is going to be precise--"

"Concise..." Kakashi muttered.

"...detailed--"

"...curtailed..." Kakashi added hopefully.

"And it will take HOWEVER LONG IT NEEDS to be written!" she snapped, "I might just make you write COMPLETE SENTENCES!" she and Kakashi glared each other a fit of wrathful sparks while Sai shuffled off to look for his bag he left at the door. He'd left his medicine in there and wanted to take some pain killer before restarting the summary writing.

"Ow!" this time the exclamation came from Naruto, who was struggling to pour water into the cup of ramen. Sai slung his bag over his shoulder and watched as the blond boy nearly tipped over the styrofoam cup and splashed more hot water over the countertop and onto the floor and his bare feet.

Naruto cried out, watching as the cup tipped too much this time, about to fall over and splash down. But Sai was suddenly there, righting it swiftly.

"Hey, eye patch-boy, don't make a mess." Sai said quietly, "You sit down; I'll take care of the rest."

Naruto grinned and nodded, walking carefully back to the small table where Sakura was still lecturing to the three male ninjas of Team 7. Any other day Sai would have poked fun at Naruto's clumsiness, but Naruto had been released from the hospital recently from a grueling surgery to repair his eyes. The optic nerves had been completely fried; the eyeballs were a soup of damaged humour sloshing inside the sclera and his eyesight had been totally obliterated. It was Sakura who had found him after his skirmish with Itachi, screaming and shaking violently, clutching his hands to his eye sockets and not realizing that he was literally clawing his eyes out.

Sai filled the cup with water, wiped off the counter and floor, listened to about 2 minutes of Sakura's ranting, and finally sat at the table, putting the noodles in front of Naruto.

"Oh man! I love ramen!" he clapped his hands together, "Itadakimasu!" Nevertheless, after all of that mental and physical torture, Naruto miraculously came out pretty strong; Sai didn't doubt that the kyuubi would not enjoy living in and supporting a blind vessel.

"Hey!" Sakura glared at Naruto, who already started to shove noodles into his mouth, "We're writing stuff here! You're going to get soup on the--"

Sai quickly placed a finger to Sakura's lips and looked up at her through his dark lashes. She blushed and jolted back from the touch, surprised and effectively shut up, Sai thought to himself. That technique he'd learned from studying television seemed to work in real life, too.

"Perhaps he's deserved this one," Sai said in a voice about an octave lower than his usual voice and leaned forward slightly. Sakura seemed to realize the effect and twittered incoherently.

"Yes, I...I suppose..." she smiled, batting her eyelashes. Kakashi had taken advantage of the brief distraction and whipped out his book under the table.

"And the important thing here is Sasuke-kun, correct?" Sai noticed that Sakura suddenly stiffened, and whatever had been in her eyes stopped irritating her, "It's no secret that no matter how much Tsunade supports his welcome back into Konoha, it's going to be very difficult to get him reinstated as an official ninja of the village. he's been in the missing-nin category for over three years and accused of assassinating a high-ranking Sunagakure official, so Sasuke's looking at some serious disciplinary action after they investigate his case."

"Disciplinary action is a cute term," Kakashi closed his book, "The department of martial offense's council doesn't slap teen shinobis on the wrist whenever they join Orochimaru's ranks and come back in chains."

"He didn't join Orochimaru just to kill people," Naruto said, face red from eating so fast, "He just wanted to get stronger and beat up his brother. You know, the brother that slaughtered his whole clan?" he said sarcastically.

"Whatever the reason," Kakashi said, "Sasuke knew that Orochimaru was Sandaime's murderer before he willingly left to train with him. Just looking at this fact, we can already assume that the council is not going to be lenient on Sasuke, whatever his noble intentions were. There are plenty of skilled shinobis he could train under who aren't psychotic criminals."

"Hey," Naruto growled, "Whose side are you on, anyway?" Kakashi shrugged.

"I'm just telling you...don't expect that by next week Sasuke-kun will be given a new hitai-ate and will be training with you in the forest," Kakashi sighed, "you thought you came out of the fight with Akatsuki alive, hey lucky lucky and all that. But depending on Sasuke and the council, the real fight begins when the hearing begins. Only this time, which's the fastest and strongest doesn't really matter. Bureaucracy is heartless."

"If we think in those lines..." Sai tapped his finger on the mission summary, "That means that anyone opposing Sasuke's reinstatement will be gathering as much evidence against him as possible." Kakashi, at that moment, decided that he really liked this deceitful little twerp. Hopefully, the two others on his team would buy into Sai and Kakashi's persuasion.

Naruto and Sakura followed Sai's gaze to the paper. Sai gave Sakura a significant look, and she nodded, looking back at Naruto.

"Perhaps...it's been a long day." Sakura said slowly.

"I'm still really really hurt, you know the whole using too much chakra thing and having your eyes melt and all that," Naruto said helpfully. He nudged Sai in the ribs.

"Uh? Oh! Yeah...hm...My injuries...they've been aching for a while, and the doctor prescribed lots of rest," Sai added.

"Of course! How thoughtless of me!" Sakura smiled, folding the mission summary up again, "Well, after all, whatever Kakashi-sensei wrote pretty much summarized everything, eh? Guess we should be leaving now, right?" Naruto nodded vigorously.

"Or! Or, the two of us could go out for some ramen, Sakura-chan!" Naruto grinned. She stood up and smiled darkly at him.

"Didn't you say you're still really hurt? Perhaps you'd better stay at home and rest, Naruto-kun." she cracked her knuckles. Naruto deflated and played with the soggy vegetables pieces in his cup ramen.

When Sai and Kakashi excused themselves, Sakura lingered behind and helped clean up after Naruto. She took out his medicine and ordered him to take them at the proper times, kyuubi or no kyuubi. They argued, but he gave in, agreeing that he'd take the pills only if they were small enough.

While she checked his heart rate, body temperature and steadiness of breath, Naruto sat quietly. Sakura found this a little bewildering; every time a female nurse put her hands anywhere near his chest and back, Naruto wiggled and flushed like a proper disciple of Jiraiya's.

"Naruto, are you feeling okay? Do you feel faint?" listlessness was a common sign of the body starting to go into deep shock, something she worried--

"Nahh," Naruto batted her hand away, "And you don't need to examine my ribs. I know the cracks are already healed." Sakura ignored him and still held her chakra-fueled hand over his chest. He was right, the ribs had healed nicely. Thank goodness that the most reckless shinobi in the village was also protected by a powerful healing force.

"Okay, everything looks alright. I still want you to take vitamins. You can mend your own wounds, but you can't produce all of the vitamins and minerals you need. So only take the ones that I've marked with the pen or else the others will cause an interesting acid when they react to the medicine," Sakura put her gloves back on, but Naruto caught her hand. She looked up, startled, into troubled blue eyes.

"What Kakashi-sensei and Sai were saying, about Sasuke having a hard time with the council and whatever...is it true?" he asked. Sakura, expecting another forceful come on, was taken aback by his pensive stare.

"Naruto-kun..." she hesitated, "I believe that they- at least- weren't exaggerating. It's true...that Sasuke was actually just a few documents away from being added to the bingo book. No one expected that he'd come in so...peacefully."

"They thought he'd only return as a corpse...that the genius Itachi would destroy his brother..." Naruto muttered. Sakura pulled her hand away and tried to smile.

"Well, that didn't happen, did it? He returned to Konoha safely after all. I don't know what made him change his mind, but surely he'll be fine now, right?" Sakura punched Naruto's shoulder lightly.

The blond boy smiled, "Yeah! He'll be okay! And anyways, if any of those council people try to mess with him, they'll have to deal with me too!"

When Sakura left, Naruto decided to rest in bed with a few scrolls on weapons technique. After seeing the way Sasuke wielded his new sword during battle, Naruto had a passing moment to become rather jealous. Jiraiya never gave him a tangible weapon like that... But Sasuke...that Sasuke bastard...he was always...really good with...with blades...bl... Within three minutes of reclining, Naruto closed his eyes and fell asleep.

When he woke up after his nap, Naruto's eyes had blurred over, but he could make out the reddish glow of sunset. He rubbed his eyes, yawning, and sat up. He swung his legs over the side of the bed, looked up, and flinched.

On his wall, written in dark watery strokes, was a message glinting in the dark sunlight.  
**  
SASUKE'S HEADING TOWRDS EXECUTION**

As soon as Naruto read it, the message shifted and splashed to the floor, becoming formless water once more. Naruto strode quickly to his open window and looked outside, his head swinging to look around.

The buildings and streets seemed barren of suspicious people, only regular neighbors doing regular duties. The rooftops were clear of people and Naruto didn't sense anyone close by. He yelled out, calling for the hidden messenger, but didn't receive a response. Naruto gazed keenly around his apartment building, but after a few minutes, he finally withdrew back into his house.

Naruto sat onto his bed heavily and thought about the message. Execution? No way. Not after everything Naruto had done to bring Sasuke back...execution... Naruto scowled and made up his mind. He raced to the door, only pausing to pull on a jacket over his black tee.

With his headband securely over his forehead and his body thrumming with equal parts of fear and fury, Naruto set out.

With an orange colored book resting easily in one hand, the jounin watched as Naruto sped away, running down the street. Kakashi stepped out from behind the corner of the dumpster beside Naruto's apartment building. He grinned to himself, even though an old man sitting across the road glared at him suspiciously. He snapped his book closed and sauntered out of the shadow of the building.

As Kakashi walked towards the way Naruto went running, he had an overwhelming feeling of age. There was a sort of depression he felt when he finally conceded that the blond firecracker he mentored had a better chance of affecting politics than he did. Kakashi ran a hand through his hair. Ah well, chalk it up to Tsunade-sama's affinity for blonds. Although the argument sounded weak even to his ears, he decided not to dwell upon melancholic thoughts…not when it might turn his hair grey.

Kakashi laughed softly to himself and enjoyed the shape his shadow made in the glow of a red sun.

- - - - -

The Department of Martial Offenses didn't really like to deal with such high-level cases, Tsunade mused. Mostly because very rarely did any of the shinobis land their files into the department's hands. Shinobis dealt with education and punishment very privately. If a squad leader thought one of their members did something wrong, they kept it out of the mission report and took it to the training field the next day. It was almost embarrassing if any news of trouble leaked to people outside the group.

If ever a problem traveled as far as to the department, the old council-people generally enjoyed appointing probation in obscure parts of the government. Plenty of filing and beautification of grounds tended to snap the rebellious spirit out of anyone. But the Uchiha Sasuke case was far more interesting. He was tied intimately to Uchiha Itachi and Orochimaru; a pair of relations that practically reserved him a seat in hell.

Tsunade stared at the five old council-people in front of her. She had only faced them once before, for causing an unnecessary level 3 earthquake very close to a merchant port. She had gotten away with a lenient sentence of two months of teaching students in ninja school. It was what she remembered as one of the darkest times of her life. She remembered how happily one of the councilwomen, Susumu-sensei, had been when she came up with the verdict. Tsunade was still convinced Susumu-sensei enjoyed acting out revenge on her former students.

"Hokage-sama," one of the old men said from behind the steaming cup of tea, "Honored as we are to receive a visit for the first time in…two years?"

"Five," croaked a woman whose age must have been that multiplied by twenty-three. But she was right. The Department of Martial Offenses' council was small but made up of competent people. The decisions they made were never contested by the hokage; a tradition that carried from the very first hokage.

"It cannot possibly be a social visit. Is there a problem?" the five peered at her questioningly.

"I came concerned about the Uchiha Sasuke case," Tsunade said flatly.

They stared back at her unflinchingly. Tsunade remembered why she never visited the council, ever. Then she jerked back when suddenly the old woman who spoke straightened herself and let out a piercing shriek of delight. The four around her muttered angrily and moved to around their things to look for their purses.

"I knew it! Whoever said an Uchiha cannot start a fire in a rainstorm?!" she cackled and the three other women and one man dropped money into her wrinkled hands.

"Tsu –chan," the woman tucked her purse away, "He's as doomed as the chickens in the Sojiro's yard. Uchiha'ed have better luck if he broke out and tried to live as a fugitive. Anyone who read his case could see that."

"Sojiro's been dead for fifty five years," another woman said. Hyuuga Kameko shrugged.

"That man would butcher the devil if he could sell its breast for a profit. What I'm trying to say is that it's almost useless to ask what our inclination on this case is. It's pretty unanimous that the boy is looking forward to at least five years," Hyuuga said happily, shaking her purse.

Tsunade hissed with surprise, "Five years? Are you serious?" that was enormously and ridiculously lenient for a shinobi who had committed as severe offenses as Sasuke. But another old crone gave a dry laugh.

"Totally joking," she cackled. Once again Tsunade wondered how the entire Hyuuga family seemed to come from such a jovial and sarcastic woman. But the single man in the group waved her aside.

"Kameko still can't forgive the Uchiha's for taking a strain of Byakugan and turning it into…what was that charming name?" he asked dryly.

"A 'Murder Tool Eye'! That's what our bloodline turned into! Just look at those brothers," Kameko snarled suddenly, ignoring the sighs from her comrades, "One slays the entire Sharingan blood for power and the other decides that two vessels are too many and tries to claim the power for himself! Disgraces if I ever met any!"

"That's all highly speculative, Hyuuga-san," Tsunade said loudly. But Hyuuga sneered, her pale eyes narrowing.

"Speculative? Tchach! If you ask me, the Uchiha clan should have seen this coming at them. Had the Uchiha's not paraded their kekkei genkai and their pride of power around, they wouldn't have this kind of tragedy. They flaunt their bloodline trait like women and their cleavage," she said without regard to Tsunade's narrowing eyes, "And this is what happens. If I ever saw a Hyuuga wearing those stupid little fans on all of their clothing, I would strike them down myself!"

The hokage waited for more to come, but one of the ladies croaked, "She's done now—she's always satisfied after ridiculing the paper fans." and buried her head back into the thick collar of scarves.

"Well, Hyuuga-san, the third natural Sharingan user was killed…"

"Thank all the gods of the universe," Susumu-sensei said with passion, "Uchiha Madara is one I will never curse anyone to battle." Murmurs of agreement came from around her.

"Yes, well, with Madara out of the picture… If we execute both brothers, as I assume that's what Itachi's fate is, that's the end of the natural Sharingan line," Tsunade reasoned. But by Hyuuga Kameko's snort she realized that the extinction of the Sharingan was not quite as meaningful to her as Tsunade had hoped.

The old man nodded though, "The Uchiha's have always served Konoha loyally. If not through their excellent ninja services, then they have done great service as the founders and backbone of our military police."

"My point exactly," Tsunade sighed, "So I humbly ask the council to consider Uchiha Sasuke's case with a _truly__godlike_ leniency."

Hyuuga-san stood suddenly from her chair, enraged at Tsunade's request. "You would ask for my consideration towards Sarutobi's murderer?! I shall not have one slightest thought of mercy! This line of Sharingan is tainted; disgusting and impure. If a strain of Byakugan can create Sharingan once, then it can happen again. I would rather wait for a hundred centuries'-long evolution than have anymore Uchiha's with this malevolent bloodline!"

Tsunade stared at the oldest woman in the village. The pale eyes were strict; she was seriously incensed with Tsunade's request. Tsunade respectfully lowered her eyes and nodded.

"You see, let me explain something…" Tsunade said after a moment's hesitation, "I know a young boy." She looked back up again.

Hyuuga-san gazed down at her. Catching the change in conversation, she sat down onto the chair slowly. Tsunade took it as a sign to go on.

"In this young boy, I see the next hokage. Of course, if something happens before it is his time, Hatake will be there; I see him as a good successor as well. But in this young man I see a greater hokage." she frowned at the council, "I did something very foolish, elder ones. I promised this young guy that I would do everything in my power as a hokage to protect his friend."

There was silence among the council, but they could sense power behind her words. "And I will keep my promise. The only thing I can maintain is that I will refrain from subterfuge as means to protect Uchiha Sasuke. All I ask from the council, in return, is a fair trial."

"What do you mean, hokage-sama?"

She nodded, knowing they would not understand her, "I ask that you refrain from making a judgment ruled by inclination or bias. Review his files carefully and give your verdict by a fair study of the files. That is all I ask of you, elder ones. As strong as your instinct is to condemn Uchiha, as hokage, I must ensure that every shinobi undergoes a formal trial."

After she finished speaking, Hyuuga-san immediately sat up to begin to protest, but Susumu-sensei cut her off.

"Of course, Tsunade-chan. I agree with Rijichou-kun. It is Uchiha's fortune that his family has done much for Konoha; we will give him his fair trial," she said with a smile, "But remember you give us your word…you will also refrain from using underhanded methods to influence the Uchiha case. Understand?"

Tsunade nodded, feeling like a ninja academy student all over again, "You have my word."

"Very good, now, hurry up and leave before Kameko has anything else to say to you," Susumu-sensei made shooing motions with her hands. Tsunade bowed deeply to the council members, smiled gratefully towards her old sensei, and exited the Department of Martial Offenses.

When the hokage exited the Department of Martial Offenses building that evening, she had a skull-splitting headache. If she could go through the rest of the night without anymore disturbances or trials with ancient village leaders she would swear off gambling for a year.

Shizune greeted Tsunade as she entered the office. The hokage sagged into her chair and groaned loudly.

"Can I take the night off, Shizune? I don't think I can handle one more demanding, insolent person until tomorrow morning…" she sighed and kissed the hand that cupped her face, "…just the two of us tonight…won't that be nice?"

Shizune was about the respond, but quickly stepped away from the hokage and gazed at the closed door. Tsunade also felt the approaching presence and groaned loudly, closing her eyes as if not seeing him would make him go away.

"UZUMAKI," she roared anyways, "IF YOU SLAM THAT DOOR I WILL ROAST YOUR NUTS ON A STICK."

There was a pause the stomping footsteps immediately softened. They heard a tiptoe-gait and someone knocked very politely on the door.

"Come in." Shizune said sweetly.

Naruto shuffled into the room, smiling like an innocent blond angel. He allowed himself to sit down in a chair opposite the hokage (still with eyes firmly closed), inquired politely about her health, and mentioned the mild weather despite the storms the kazekage had written to him about. And perhaps would she like a cup of tea?

"Oh fuck," Tsunade opened her eyes, rested her elbows on the desk, "Naruto. Just get it over with. Hell, do it as loudly as you want. I want to hear it in one go, and then I want you out of here until tomorrow."

The boy's eyes blazed a cold blue and he began: "After everything I went through to get Sasuke back and as soon as he gets home I hear that his head is on the block—" okay, blahh blah blah, Tsunade yawned surreptitiously, "---after all of the lives lost after the conflict with Akatsuki, more useless blood shouldn't be shed, don't you think---," yeah, mm hmm. The guy sure could rant like a woman…

Naruto stood up now, his hands on her desk, "--Leaf village is supposed to be all peaceful and I've never heard of anyone getting legally executed—" oh boy, someone didn't pay attention in class, "---and he didn't even get a chance to explain himself! It wasn't even his fault that---" that he's got a revenge streak that overshadowed everything else in the world? "---and anyways you PROMISED you'd help me find him! Did you use me so that you could catch him and bring him back--" what a little idiot…Tsunade decided this was enough.

She held her hands up, "Naruto, I wholly agree with you." His mouth snapped closed and he stared at her, taking in her incredibly understanding smile, "Now will you calm down and sit down?" Naruto frowned, hesitated, and slowly sat back down. Tsunade leaned onto her desk.

"Your protests are almost exactly what I tried to tell the council of the Department of Martial Offenses. I'm asking you to trust that I'm doing as much as I can in my power to make sure your little bosom buddy doesn't become the equivalent to Sojiro's poultry stock."

"What?"

"But a hokage's influence can only go so far. I'm not the one calling the shots on this one; the council seems pretty adamant about the verdict. There's only two people leaning towards mercy for Sasuke, but even they're doing so rather reluctantly," Tsunade saw Shizune's pointed look and nodded slightly, "I promise you again that I will try to do anything in my power to stop the decision from turning totally sour. But Naruto, it's all on paper. Sasuke wrote his own death sentence with the decisions he made. We have almost everything he's done since he defected on file."

"No!" Naruto was gripping the arm of his chair fiercely, "He…what he did…he doesn't deserve to be executed!"

Tsunade's heart softened even though the boy's emotional turmoil was disturbing the atmosphere around them and clashing with her flow of _chi_. She folded her hands together and surreptitiously emitted a pulse of calming chakra through the room. Immediately Naruto relaxed again, his tense shoulders sagging and his neck straightening out, but his eyes were still dark blue with fear. Tsunade's gaze flitted to Shizune, who understood and nodded.

"Naruto-kun, I ask you to trust me. Now, it's been an entirely too long day for all of us. Moreover, as one of the doctors who examined you, I ask you to go home and rest. You're still undergoing repair from Uchiha's jutsu, so get out of my office and stop worrying so much," Tsunade said kindly. Shizune took Naruto's arm and led him back to the door. He looked back at Tsunade as if he had more to discuss. But she understood everything he wanted to say in his one mournful look. As she watched Shizune guide the boy out of her office through the wide office windows, Tsunade sighed heavily. She didn't know exactly how she was going to prevent the blond kid's heart from breaking.

The night had become cooler but with a heavy presence of a looming summer. Shizune offered to take Naruto for an evening snack before dropping him home and he accepted quietly. They walked through the government buildings towards the main market area. Lanterns had been lit already and although the children headed back home the teens and adults were free to enjoy the night.

Shizune looked at the boy who, judging by his glazed stare, was undergoing some kind of inner monologue composed mainly of friendship and the power of camaraderie. She shook her head slightly and shook his shoulder a little.

"What would you like to eat? Takoyaki or ice cream mochi?" she asked as they began walking into the shopping district. Naruto shrugged and looked around with that same blank expression, "Ice cream mochi it is," Shizune said sympathetically and steered him towards the convenience grocery mart.

"Naruto-kun," Shizune said while they browsed the freezers, "Tsunade was far too kind to you today."

He finally looked up and his eyes cleared of the stupor. Shizune smiled tightly and opened the freezer door, "She has always had a soft spot for you because of Nawaki, so she coated all of her words with sugar," she looked at the packets of mochi and chose the green tea flavor.

When Shizune finished paying for the packet and for the booze she picked up for Tsunade for later, she led Naruto outside. The shops and stalls glittered happily with lanterns and lights. A modest but chatty crowd moved around them, many of them clueless about the fierce battle that had taken place recently. They would never know of the insanely high leveled attacks the leaf shinobi were attacked and retaliated with. Few would understand what it was like to face an enemy who never lost a battle and had no intention of losing another. Naruto looked around. They didn't know what it was like to carry a weapon in their bodies and have that dark part of your soul nearly removed.

They walked as they ate the round rice paste sweets. Shizune winced when her teeth bit into the ice cream center.

"Then that's the end?" Naruto suddenly stopped walking, "Is that what you're trying to tell me? That Sasuke's going to die even though he came back without resisting?"

Shizune turned around and looked him in the eye, "Naruto, even if the council wasn't making a judgment based on simple instinct, they would review his files and see all of the damage he's done in the past few years. And it doesn't help that each of those files has a live witness to testify against Sasuke even if he were to contest the verdict."

This surprised Naruto, but he had to chew the sticky sweet before saying, "Live witness?"

"Yeah. It's a twist of fate or coincidence, but someone who's been there whenever Sasuke made a move-- he shows up on the files too. And the council makes stronger and more clearly-defined decisions if there is a witness to properly testify. So, like I said, if Sasuke wanted to use the files as hard evidence that he's clean—"

"Then they can call on the witness to testify against him," Naruto said miserably, "How did that happen?" Shizune patted his back. They walked towards the one of the circular plazas.

"I suppose there's no way to steal those files?" Naruto asked seriously. Shizune shook her head.

"The files I'm talking about are all mission files, not general reports, and those are protected. Some of those are even ANBU mission files, and those can only be accessed by the Hokage, especially since ANBU works under her private orders. So no, there is little chance one could steal them without getting Tsunade-sama into trouble. In fact the ANBU files are hidden so well that only four people in the whole village are allowed to know their location."

"If baa-san really wanted to help then she might accidentally let the files get stolen or something," Naruto said matter-of-factly, but Shizune looked upset when he said it.

"Don't say careless things like that, Naruto-chan. Every single patch of soot in a ninja village has ears," Shizune said quietly, "And that would get Tsunade-sama into a lot of trouble even if she did let those files get out by accident."

"Then I suppose it's impossible to alter the data on the files?" Naruto continued in jest. Shizune gave him a quelling look and resisted the urge to stick a mochi into his mouth and shut him up. He got the message and quickly closed his mouth. They were walking through the quieter part of the marketplace, towards the large fountain in the center of the circular clearing. People were taking out their late dinners and snacks, sitting on the many benches and at small booths selling delicious smelling treats.

"No," Naruto finally said, "It's just wrong to condemn him to execution. He might have joined Orochimaru, but he didn't become him. He's not disgusting and bloodthirsty or anything. He just wanted to kill his childhood demons. It's like trying to kill the monster in your closet, only Sasuke's monster was real," he said in a voice heavy with emotion.

Naruto's comment surprised Shizune. She looked down at him, somewhat lost for words. Instead of speaking, she offered him the last mochi and patted his soft head.

"Listen, Naruto," she said, "I have confidence in Tsunade. Perhaps too much…but I believe that she will try everything she can. But in the event that what she tries isn't enough to save Sasuke…" she squeezed his shoulder, "…steel your big heart, okay?"

Naruto digested her words slowly. Yet he felt their grave meaning, and it showed in the glistening eyes.

"Oi! Hey tough guy," Shizune smiled as best she could and gave him a rough hug, "Stop crying you great future village leader! Or do you want to lose respect from your future officers? Look over at the fountain, it's your buddy." She pointed to the fountain where a dark-haired boy was sitting on the edge and looked to be writing in his notepad. Immediately Naruto pressed his sleeve against his eyes and cleared his throat. He ran over to his dark-haired comrade and right away began bickering with him.

Shizune followed a bit slower, not surprised that two of the most injured shinobis currently in the village were not recuperating in bed as she instructed, but rather running around and possibly undoing all of the medic-nins' efforts that took to revive them. When the shinobis from the Akatsuki mission came back, the whole medical staff (including those still in school) were swamped with trying to treat the new and highly gruesome injuries. She remembered that one man who came in with a totally bizarre curse that had turned his whole left arm into paper-origami. Three apprentices fainted and one veteran doctor threw up upon examining him. When they unfolded his arm they noticed the curse was still spreading up into his torso; that was when Shizune was called to try to stop the curse. No one had ever seen anything like that before.

As for Naruto's friend, Patient 45 as Shizune remembered him, he was something like a gift from heaven. He should have died in that terrible battle. He had been totally exhausted of life when they found him, so much that they had written his name on the list of dead. But luckily Tsunade-sama was determined to personally view all of the dead before they cremated them. She entered the morgue, felt a chakra presence, and immediately rushed over to his gurney. What an embarrassment it was to the shinobis who were supposed to assist the hunter-nins and bring back the shinobis. Yet no one blamed them, Patient 45 came in looking like some a human needle-cushion. Wounds of all degrees lanced his body and all sorts of seals and curses had prevented him from properly circulating chakra.

Shizune finally reached them and nodded to the dark-haired boy. She immediately understood why Tsunade-sama's young apprentice had been so distraught when she saw this boy's name on the list of dead. He was certainly attractive. She looked down at what he was showing Naruto on his notepad. Ah, yes. Tsunade-sama had been interested in this young jounin when she discovered this interesting mastery over ink. He didn't even have to use a paintbrush anymore; just sit there with his hands in the 'hua' position. The ink moved by itself, shifting quickly and smoothly.

Shizune smiled as she stared down at the paper. His mastery of this unique jutsu really was impressive, and it was also pretty entertaining. She continued to stare as the ink twisted and formed different faces and caricatures. Naruto laughed and asked the boy to form Sakura-chan in a nurse's uniform.

Then, the Idea struck. It startled Shizune so terribly that she physically reeled away from the two boys. It was preposterous…but the Idea was unfolding and her mind was already providing stratagems and schemes. Shizune's heartbeat rose rapidly and she stared from Naruto back to Patient 45. She clenched her fists unconsciously. This was absolutely crazy!

But would it work?

The medic-nin took one long look at the dark-haired boy, excused herself, and strode quickly back towards the head office. She tried not to run and arouse suspicion, but the idea unraveling in her head was burning and flaring with excitement.

The more she thought about it, the more plausible it became.

This insane idea that Naruto jokingly suggested…


	4. Tea Party in the Forest

Empty Glass Jars

ATAIRA

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Rating: M, PG-16 Language, violence, shonen-ai/slash. This individual chapter is safe.

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs solely to its creator and the people who control its name and empire. I make absolutely no profit from Naruto.

Summary: Even as their lives seem to cross more and more, Sasuke and Sai pursue perfection, power and release. But nothing ever comes easily, and both will pay the price too willingly.

AN: I would like to kowtow at this point. Guys, super sorry. Er, let's say college crap is making me have multiple strokes while I try to balance my work and schooling. SUPER SORRY!! But yes, I hope you don't lose faith in me! Although…I may deserve that. Again, love for those who reviewed, you are rock stars. The next chapter should be out in two weeks. Or so.

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"…I don't want to hear anymore of this matter." Tsunade said forcefully, "In fact, I should have you arrested for insinuating for such a thing, especially in front of a witness. Sai is neither a child nor stupid, he probably knows exactly what you're trying to do." She looked over at the boy standing against the wall, who looked back at her emotionlessly.

Shizune dropped her head, "I thought you would agree. It's…you have to agree. It's perfect."

The hokage looked as if she wanted to hit her most precious advisor, "It's perfectly illegal! Not to mention that there's a million reasons why this would go wrong! Shizune, I'm disappointed that you'd suggest such a thing."

The hokage had been startled when Shizune subtly conveyed her masterful plan. Tsunade had sat up incredibly straight and glared at Shizune from over her desk and the piece of paper that lay innocently between them. A young jounin stood against the wall, watching indifferently as the two women clashed.

"It wouldn't only cause the villagers to lose faith in their hokage, but it may jeopardize Sai's career if people found out that something like that happened," Tsunade said.

"Only if they found out--"

"Not another word!" Tsunade barked, "Do you _want_ me to call in an officer?"

Shizune picked up the paper where the ink had glided around just minutes ago, "Fine. Don't even consider it. But everyone knows that when the council is finished, Sasuke walks right out of the prison cell to the block. Now, when your blond shinobi asks you if you did everything you could, I want to see what you tell him," she dropped the paper into the wastebasket, "Because even as we know where Sasuke is heading, we know that he doesn't deserve it. Not wholly."

"I won't allow it." Tsunade said with finality, "I gave the council my word that I would not resort to subterfuge to protect Sasuke. I refuse to allow you to do something like this."

"I suppose that makes you a terrible ninja."

The two women turned to Sai, who now had a smile on his face, "A shinobi who refuses to use subterfuge... I don't know how you even made it out of the academy." Tsunade stared at him with flashing eyes and Shizune exhaled slowly.

"As a shinobi I may fail," Tsunade said stiffly, "But in this matter, I must act as a hokage. With honor."

"A hokage who employs and manipulates men for their politics and as pawns for the village," Shizune interrupted, "Would do anything to protect one of its shinobis. You owe that much to the Uchiha clan. After more than five generations of using their sons and daughters as puppets and child soldiers, the whole village owes the clan a chance to live. Uchiha Sasuke deserves his life. Isn't that something Jiraiya-sama would say? If he was hokage, he would do everything he could to protect a man who needed him," she said forcefully, holding the hokage's wide gaze.

Tsunade turned slowly away from them, looking out the window of her office. It was a bright day outside and from her window she saw the guards change shift. Indeed, Jiraiya would do something like this to help save a child. Hell, even Orochimaru would easily sidestep his responsibilities; he'd stab his honor and pride in the back of the neck, and rescue whomever he needed for whatever nefarious reasons.

She knew that this plan was possible, after Sai pressed his palms together and made the dried ink shift. It would be so easy…but it was terrible. There was a huge margin for error and the consequences if the sabotage was discovered were too great. She could not endanger her own position— nor could she force a shinobi to work against its own government.

"And they owe you too, the council." Shizune said quietly, "Remember, those two months for something you didn't deserve? Everything has to balance, and they have not returned your favor." she was talking about the earthquake near the city of Yeop. Shizune remembered feeling a great sense of injustice when they sent her case to the Department of Martial Offenses. Just to appease the lord that resided over the damaged trade port, the council assigned her to teach students at the academy for two months. If she had not resorted to such forceful tactics at Yeop, many civilians would have died that day. But for politics, they sentenced her out of shinobi duties to teach children.

"Perhaps I fail as a shinobi," she said finally, "And maybe I fail as a hokage."

She turned back to the two, "In those two months, I learned much from the children, so the experience and probation were not for an unjust reason. But the first fifteen minutes were the worst." She laughed, "I nearly killed a classroom of kids. I was just about ready to slaughter them. They were a group of absolute demons. And for those fifteen minutes of injustice, I have never been repaid."

Shizune's eyes widened and Sai looked at Tsunade harder, trying to find a clear order in her enigmatic speech. She sighed and picked up her robe, shrugging it on.

"I intend to release the files to the council for review tomorrow, by noon. Before then, at eleven thirty, I will leave the files on my desk for fifteen minutes while I use the restroom. Not one second more. If anyone without clearance is in my office, I will attack them or call in the ANBU," Tsunade stepped out from behind her desk, "And one thing, Sai--"

The boy nodded.

"The mask stays in its box. You are not to take orders from anyone and nothing goes on paper for the next two days," Tsunade said, "I have no authority to make a shinobi…do things he wouldn't want to do…under normal circumstances."

"You do it all the time," Shizune said dryly.

"So," Tsunade growled, pointedly ignoring her advisor, "If you are to take part in any…activities this weekend, it will be by your own will. I want you to make a decision, if you're willing to risk what you have for someone like Sasuke. Because a decision like this is not something that you can take lightly. What you've worked for all these years, your lifestyle, your career and your jounin position…all of that is on the block if you mess up." She stared meaningfully at them, then walked towards the door and let Shizune and Sai plan whatever the hell they wanted.

The Uchihas were placed in prison rooms right next to each other. They knew it because their very blood recognized the other's closeness, the air they breathed tasted of their brother, the whole village could be between those two rooms and they would know that their brother was right beside them.

They were nearly identical rooms. One table supported their prone bodies, dim lighting illuminated the cell, and water was all over the place. Water fell steadily from the ceiling, trickled down the walls, and flooded the ground a foot deep. It was lukewarm water, but nevertheless it served an important purpose; it weakened the natural Uchiha affinity with fire.

Sasuke lay on the raised cot on his stomach, spread-eagled with his arms out and fixed at opposite corners of the cot. All over his body were needles of all sizes. They stood erect and shivered whenever he flexed a muscle— if he was lucky enough to be able to move anything. It was not a torture technique; on the contrary there was no pain from the needles except for a slightly uncomfortable sensation when inserted. But after the first few days that he was imprisoned, he could no longer feel his body parts, never mind the needles.

Constantly it was drip, drip, drip. All around was the movement of water, moist around his face and making him feel like his body was going to melt out of his skin. Every nine hours an old woman came into the room, carried by burly guards. She stood on a stool near his raised cot and carefully withdrew the needles on his body, one by one. The guards picked him up and rolled him over onto his back, exposing his naked front. The old woman then proceeded with new needles, puncturing him on his front in hundreds of specific places. When Sasuke went through this routine for the first few days, he was honored. The old acupuncturist wasn't just stopping his flow of chakra, but his very _chi_; the essence of his life and energy. The places she placed needles completely halted the flow of _chi_ through his body and thus rendered him incapable of any kind of flow of chakra. Without the movement of _chi_, he was basically a slab of meat with a pulse. He could not even manage a simple hypnosis ninjutsu from his eyes. The honor, though scarce after a week of this crippling treatment, was that only the most dangerous criminals were treated to this kind of imprisonment.

The old woman had cold hands, and worked very carefully. She understood the body well and placed the needles accurately. Just a slight variation in where the needles were placed would allow _chi_ and chakra to flow, and give him the opportunity to escape. Even that briefest time when all the needles were out to let him turn around, he couldn't manage a single stream of chakra. He was still physically mobile, but incredibly weak without the power of chakra supporting him. It would be ridiculous to try to escape against armed shinobis who were packed with flowing chakra.

But the thick manacles, the constant surveillance, the nudity, the constant flow of water drowning his natural power, and even the acupuncture treatment-- none of it was comparable to the constant reminder that his brother was right beside him. In the adjacent room, he was calmly lying there, probably in the same situation.

Sasuke didn't even have to ask anyone if his brother was still alive. He knew it instinctively, as any good shinobi knew their enemy's proximity; he knew very well that his brother was close. He could even smell him on the old acupuncturist's body, on the hands of the guards that had touched his brother, in the very needles that had once been used on his brother even after they had been sterilized.

_Itachi_…

And just as he didn't need to ask of his brother's situation, he didn't need to ask of his-- their future. Sasuke managed a mental smirk. They said that shinobis could see death hovering upon their comrades' brows. It was the same for themselves. No shinobi ever acted without knowing the outcome of their actions; if he didn't die at his brothers' hands, and if he didn't kill him either, they would die by the order of the village. It was accepted. The gods and spirits of death were looming over the Uchiha brothers, their ominous presence just as unmistakable as the water on the walls.

But something had changed, Sasuke mused. Someone had snuck very expertly into his room last night. He had stepped evenly over the water and padded softly before Sasuke, not stirring a single ripple. This boy flaunted his aura and presence, making himself known to the Uchiha. He leaned over the boy and showed him his face; dark hair, pale skin, and darker eyes. Then he proceeded to pull out all of the needles. Sasuke lay there, and after forty three seconds his chakra and chi were moving swiftly once more. But even though he was now capable of killing the young man and escaping the village undetected, he didn't move. Just stared up at the dark-eyed youth.

"Why didn't you kill your brother?"

And although the room was guarded with ridiculously thick walls and countless seals, Sasuke could hear his brother's soft laughter coming from the other prison room. It was faint, and it was probably not real. He closed his eyes.

"Why? Is it those bonds that Naruto talks about? Do you still have bonds you do not want to break?"

It was so sweet, to hear his brother speak to him once more, to smile proudly as if he was wholly unconcerned about Sasuke's threatening power. To address him fondly, "_Sasuke-chan_." I'm so proud of you. Sasuke opened his eyes to the black eyes.

"Love."

"Explain yourself."

"Can't."

And just like that, when the boy left him, with the needles back in place, the gods and spirits of death seemed to move away from him. Afterwards, all he could hear was the trickling water and a faint laugh.

Breaking into highly guarded areas was no problem for Sai; he'd been a professional ever since he was a child. He quickly spread the papers out on the desk after disabling all of the seals. He riffled through them and found all of files with the pictures of ANBU masks on the top right corner. They were the important files. He laid them before himself and put his palms together.

With a soft stream of incantations and carefully applied chakra, he increased the humidity in the air. The moisture in the room became so thick it was tangible and he monitored how much water was penetrating the paper. With another seal Sai was able to get the once-dried ink to move. Certain dates and names were altered, words shifted and characters straightened or curled according to his will. He worked quickly and reapplied the ink in different places on the paper. Nine minutes and approximately sixteen seconds remained. Hokage-sama had been generous with time.

Finally, the picture of his ANBU mask-- white moon with red swirls-- shifted. The small protruding nose elongated like a crow's beak and the red swirls shifted until there was a thick red lining around the now-smiling eyeholes. Sai inspected his handiwork and approved of it. He quickly ended the incantation and slipped the files back into Uchiha Sasuke's folder. He reactivated the seals on the folder and placed the folder exactly where it had been before, on the messy desk.

Sai opened the window slowly, waited for the guard on the roof to turn his head, and in that split-second Sai disappeared into the rustling treetops.

Susume-sensei looked livid. She was rubbing her wrinkled hands together and glaring at the hokage every now and then. Rijichou-sama had walked into the room with a mild look on his face, the other women followed looking disgruntled, and Hyuuga Kameko-sama stormed in after them, her pale eyes narrow.

"You tampered with the files!" she screeched as soon as everyone had kneeled down on their mats. Tsunade scowled.

"I did no such thing. Please strike that off the records." The recorder in the corner of the room looked to Rijichou-sama, who nodded. Tsunade did not let her eyes waver the slightest even though she faced the wrath of the oldest (and arguably most powerful) Hyuuga living.

"I, then, invite the hearing on the Uchiha Sasuke case to begin. Please allow Uchiha Sasuke to enter," Shouwa-sama said in a gravelly voice. The paper door behind Tsunade slid open, and Sasuke stepped in, flanked by two guards.

"You two will not be necessary, please withdraw." Rijichou-sama said. The two men nodded and stepped out. Even the handcuffs on Sasuke's wrists were for show. With the five council people, Tsunade, Danzou, and the ANBU all shadowing different areas of the large room, any aggressor would be at a disadvantage. After months of inactivity in a highly monitored cell, any prisoner brought in the presence of such powerful elders would have to be brain-dead to try to attack the formidable elders.

Uchiha Sasuke was a shadow of the young man who had come in approximately a month ago. Although he was wearing clothes issued by the prison warden nothing could hide how thin he had become. A deeply sunken face accentuated his wide eyes, dark and intense. The pale skin seemed grey in the morning light filtering through the paper doors. When he kneeled at the table beside Tsunade before the council of five elders, he seemed child-like and delicate next to the shapely woman. Some of the witnesses and other spectators sitting on the tatami by the walls looked baffled—it was absurd that such a slight man was the object of the council's and Tsunade's attentions.

"Verify that he is really Uchiha Sasuke," Susumu-sensei said.

Tsunade looked over at the boy, "Sharingan, please." In an instant the wide eyes flashed red and the black swirls were evident against the bloody ring. Hyuuga-sama forgot her anger and sneered mockingly at the sight of the infamous swirl.

"Then let's begin," Susumu-sensei said crisply, "Hokage-sama has requested that we review this case in a formal trial on the guarantee that she not try to excessively influence the proceedings. Can you promise that you have not influenced any of the files submitted to the council for review?"

Tsunade did not waver under the glare of her former teacher, "Yes."

The four women and one man seemed to bristle when she answered. Susumu-sensei frowned deeply.

"Respected elders, everyone knows that even the lower mission papers are immediately preserved with anti-tamper guards to prevent anyone from changing information. All of the files I gave you are high-level and the protections are even greater on them; it is impossible to change any information on those. Only certain officials directly involved with the mission can change information, and they still need certain clearance," Tsunade said evenly.

"It's not the simply mission files we're talking about!" Hyuuga-sama screeched, "It's these ANBU files! There's obviously some kind of fishy business: I know for a fact that the shinobi assigned to some of these missions is not the shinobi who's recorded on the file! The fake one has been dead for two weeks!" she glared at Sasuke as if it had been his doing.

Tsunade looked surprised, that the ANBU shinobi changed definitely was news to her, "Very inconvenient, but everyone knows it's even harder to change information on ANBU mission files," she responded, "There are specific seals we place on those files to assure that no ink can be removed nor added to the paper. If that were to happen then the file would self-destruct and alert the records administrator."

"There are more ways to alter a paper than simply write on it," suddenly one of the men sitting by the wall, Danzou, spoke up in a gravelly voice, "Which shinobi do you speak of, Hyuuga-sama?"

"That's classified information," Tsunade said sharply, "Those files are given to the council for their review, but the information is still not open for discussion." Danzou stared passively at the back of the hokage's head. He then frowned and slowly stared up at the ceiling.

Hidden closely to the meeting room were five ANBU guards. A meeting like the one held now was a perfect opportunity for a well-prepared attack that could eliminate most of the important officials of Konoha. Each of the guards had their ears sharply attuned to everything going on in the room for security reasons and to satisfy their own curiosity. Each of them knew of the Uchiha case; the whole ninja community knew. The reason the trial and hearing was in this abandoned tea house was because growing interest in the Uchiha case had made it dangerous to hold the trial in a government building.

But one ANBU, perched on the edge of the sloping roof of the desuetude two-story tea house, was listening extremely attentively. His eyes were trained on the grounds and into the densely packed forest but his ears were attuned to everything the officials said. He only moved slightly, a flinch, when he felt one of the trial participants stare up directly at him through the ceiling. Sai regained his composure, shook his head at an inquiring look from the other ANBU near him on the roof, and settled back to listening to the trial.

They seemed to finish arguing about the validity of the documents (Sai was relieved to hear) and moved on to talk about Sasuke's sentencing. At this point Sai could tell all of the ANBU were listening carefully. Many people in the room disagreed that Sasuke should be absolved of all of his sins, but Tsunade returned the discussion back to Sasuke's files, which had little incriminating evidence.

"Preposterous," someone said, "He joined Orochimaru." When Tsunade suggested that Sasuke had been brainwashed and kidnapped against his will, Hyuuga Kameko screeched with laughter.

"You're insane. Hoi, you Uchiha brat, you tell me. Were you kidnapped or did you go by yourself? Eh?" she said accusingly. The people in the room waited.

"Whatever I say," the Uchiha's dark voice was quiet, "Will not influence your opinion of me." This began a new argument between the council-people and Tsunade. Sai exhaled softly, as far as he knew, Sasuke had just dug himself into a new hole. Why not just agree with the hokage? Saying something like that practically incriminated himself. Sai continued to listen anyways.

About half an hour later, Rijichou-sama finally tapped his finger pads against the wooden table between the council and Tsunade, "Regardless of what can be said here today, the council has already decided, after the review of his files, that there is too little evidence to condemn Uchiha Sasuke to execution."

"Because the files were obviously tampered with!" Hyuuga-sama said.

"Kameko!" Susumu-sensei snapped, "Stop it! This has dragged on for too long! Uchiha Sasuke, you will be reinstated in your old team in three months' time. Enjoy this leniency, not because of your _very suspicious _files," she threw a sharp glare at Tsunade, "But because of our trust in the hokage's judgment. Nevertheless, during this three months' time you will be living in house arrest and in constant surveillance. Is this understood?" there was a brief pause where Sai assumed Sasuke had nodded, "Any suspicious activity will be reported immediately by the officer assigned to live with you. We suggest, if you really want to smoothly transition back to the simple life of a village shinobi, you should stay in strict accordance to any rules the officer sets for you."

Sasuke showed no sign of having heard the council woman. But Tsunade nodded curtly, looking relieved.

"Now," Shouwa-sama said, "Are there any suggestions for a surveillance officer? By protocol it must be someone higher than the prisoner's rank. Uchiha Sasuke is a genin, so a chuunin or jounin should suffice. But we may require someone of, perhaps…exceptional skill. Hokage-sama, please make a suggestion."

"I suggest Maito Gai," Tsunade replied, "He has extensive experience when dealing with Sharingan users."

"Unacceptable." Danzou interrupted, "At a time when many villages are crippled from the work of Akatsuki, especially Konohagakure because of our direct involvement with the last few conflicts, we cannot assign Maito Gai to sit and twiddle his thumbs. I propose another jounin of exceptional skill. He has already had experiences with both Uchihas, so he is not wholly unprepared."

Sai frowned and crouched lower against the roof.

"I agree with your wisdom, but I do not think assigning Uzumaki Naruto to watch Sasuke is advisable. And his rank, officially a genin, is also equal to Sasuke's," Tsunade said. But Danzou shook his head, "Then, Hatake Kakashi? His case is similar to Gai's. I need him to--"

"I speak of the former Roots agent currently known as Sai. Although your mission files seem to disagree," Danzou said gravely, "I know with certainty that Sai has survived various encounters with Uchihas. And he is now still recuperating from extensive injuries. This would be an ideal assignment for him."

"Where is he?" Rijichou-sama asked, "Summon him here."

Tsunade nodded and tapped twice on the table before her. Sai immediately understood, swung down from the roof in a graceful leap, and stood on the deck. He slid the paper door aside and entered the crowded tea room. He kneeled on the other side of Tsunade and looked down at the low table. Immediately he was intensely aware of the attention he gathered from the group of elders across from him. It was enough to make his heartbeat race. The council was silently assessing him-- even the Hyuuga was thoroughly examining him, her eyes narrowed as she gazed at him. It seemed as if the council awaited her judgment of him.

"Humph," the old lady finally crossed her arms, "Danzou, another one of your Root monsters, eh? What did you do to this one to get him like this?"

Danzou smiled thinly, but offered no reply.

"Of course he'll do, even though he's still weakened," Hyuuga-sama said, "And if we assume he's been trained by Roots curriculum then we know he'll be reliable, at least to Danzou. You have any reason to not accept a long term baby-sitting job?" she asked Sai humorlessly. He shook his head. The council seemed to come to some sort of unspoken consensus and conveyed their acceptance to Tsunade. She looked surprised, but after a moment she shrugged and bowed respectfully until her forehead hovered above the tatami.

"On the behalf of Konohagakure and the Uchiha clan, the hokage humbly wishes to thank the wise and most merciful council--"

"Oh shut up," Kameko Hyuuga snapped, "Just because we let him get away with it doesn't mean he's going to last. I give that snotty brat two weeks before he runs off or kills everyone in the neighborhood. Now let's get some damn sake. And you're paying, humble hokage."

- - - - -

Without a doubt, the Uchiha residence was one of the largest in the village. It was composed of four wings, boasted two large training rooms, contained nearly twenty small gardens and was riddled with nearly two miles of walkways. Families had lived within the protection of the proud gates and children had played and trained in the courts between the wings and rooms. Men walked in and out of the house regularly, either from academy training or from the police force. It had once been a proud home that was as active and energetic as a fanned flame.

Sasuke walked into his old home, one that he'd not entered ever since Itachi spilled his family's blood. But his old apartment had been sold after he disappeared from the village and what was left to him was everything in his family's name. That left him with quite a lot of money that he had not been able to access as a child. But Sasuke was also forced to accept the house once more. The empty rooms seemed to swallow him as he walked through them; the weak sunlight streamed through the windows and did nothing to dispel the chill that gathered around him. The flame of the Uchihas had long ago been extinguished, not even leaving a wisp of smoke behind.

A presence suddenly entered Sasuke's range of awareness-- it was that jounin who had been assigned to watch him. The jounin's presence flickered away. Sasuke felt him move from the front gate to the hallway outside the room Sasuke was occupying. The paper door slid and the other boy stepped into the room. Sasuke looked away from the bare bookshelf to the jounin.

Black eyes met black. All was cold within the Uchiha house.

- - - - -

His room was in the third wing of the sprawling mansion. It wasn't even a bedroom, but a large area that had once been the living room for one of the Uchiha families. Sai chose it because sunlight filled the room and bathed everything in a perfect golden glow. Also, the room was an ideal distance away from Sasuke, who was close enough to be monitored, but far enough to allow Sasuke to escape whenever he wanted to. As Sai laid out his sheets on the cot, he pondered this difficult situation.

No one in the tea house last week had been fooled. Everyone knew that Sasuke, or all of the ninjas previously placed under house arrest, was able to escape the officer appointed to watch them. It was a tradition for shinobis to escape their house arrest, no matter how much more powerful their officer was-- it was their inherent nature to escape captors. Sai moved the easel closer to the windows and summoned his chair with a flick of a pressure jutsu. Although it was obvious that his position as an officer was only for show, he took his job seriously.

He sat down in front of the easel and twirled one of his brushes in his hands. He squeezed out red, green, and purple oil paint onto the palette and carefully mixed colors. Carelessly he painted broad strokes that swirled and blended into each other. He frowned and mixed the colors without thinking about what he was making. So far, green seemed to dominate red and the purple was creating a mess.

So, if Sasuke decided to go out, as he was most likely to do, how would Sai respond? Should he go to the hokage? Would she become exasperated with his naïveté? He knew this was his duty, he was even given orders. But Kakashi seemed to smirk when he told him about the results of the trial. The older jounin lowered his book slightly and gazed at Sai.

"No fun, but at least you'll get time to recuperate. Just stay out of his way."

Sai dipped his brush back into red and swirled a blob into the purplish mess he'd created on the bottom of the painting. This was a sure predicament. Even Kakashi had hinted that he wouldn't be expected to take any action against Uchiha. But what if Sai stayed out of Uchiha's way and Uchiha really did go out and kill the whole neighborhood? It was possible. It would also be devastating if Danzou found out that he ignored his orders because of some silly unspoken rule.

After adding a few more layers of green, Sai saw that absolutely nothing good was coming onto the paper. He ripped it from the board and crumpled it up, smearing plenty of pain all over his hands. He knew what he'd do when Sasuke tried to escape. There would be no rationalizing this: if Sasuke forced to make him choose between duty and weird traditions, he would react to the situation as he saw fit when it arose. As for now, he was going to train better mobility into his leg.

- - - - -

Sai did not have to wait very long until Sasuke tried to escape his house arrest. The sun had set and Sai was just sitting down to eat a dry ration packet for dinner when he felt a discrepancy in the living-force. The other occupant in the Uchiha manor inconspicuously changed something about his aura. It was so slight Sai may not have detected it if he was not feeling for movement.

He didn't even bother trying to speak to the presence in Sasuke's room; he was sure that it was just a doppelganger. Instead, Sai reappeared six miles from the Uchiha manor, in the middle of a dark alley. He had been sure that he felt the shift in the force lead him--

Sai spun so quickly it was only years of training that prevented him from getting self-inflicted whiplash. Sasuke was directly behind him, a hard look on his face as he stared at Sai. Sai stumbled a few feet away from Uchiha, who was still looking darkly at him.

"You're not supposed to leave the house," Sai blandly said. Sasuke appeared not to have heard him. Sai narrowed his eyes at the stoic boy.

"I think I'm going to take you back by force," the jounin seemed to sigh when Sasuke made no movement, but before he could even shift into position, he noticed something rather upsetting. When he glanced down at his hands, they were totally clean. Earlier, he had struggled to wash the green paint from his cuticles, but they'd been stained with the stubborn paint. Sai looked back up at Sasuke, whose eyes widened fractionally. Sai smiled.

"Yeah, you kind of messed up," he said before breaking the illusion.

Sai was still in his room, holding his dry rations packet and sitting on his bed. He had not moved at all, but when he looked down, his cuticles were stained green.

Sasuke's real presence was nowhere to be detected. It must have been five minutes since Sasuke put the illusion on him.

Sai threw down his dinner, listened carefully to the Sasuke doppelganger, and then disappeared from the manor and into the village. There was an expletive for situations like these. One that made no sense, yet seemed to perfectly summarize Sai's current sentiments. As Sasuke's trail went absolutely cold outside the village's public bathhouse, Sai exhaled calmly.

"Fuck."


End file.
